Obesity is reaching epidemic proportions among American children and teens, and parents are desperate for an answer that doesn’t involve unhealthy extremes, while kids are desperate to feel and look better, fast.

Charles Stuart Platkin, one of the country’s leading nutrition advocates and popular syndicated columnist of "The Diet Detective," outlines a step-by-step approach to painless lifestyle changes that lead to permanent weight loss, targeted specifically to the diet needs of young people. He gives practical advice on topics such as smarter options at the most common teen hang-out spots; how to eat better in the school cafeteria; how to lose weight when your parents control the food in your house; how to find satisfying "Calorie Bargains" to swap for high-calorie favorites; how to defeat your "Eating Alarm Times," and much more.